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FOREX.com Review
Updated November 15, 2023
Risk Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with Gain Capital UK Ltd. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- 4,500+ assets available for trading
- Active Trader Rewards
- Regulated in Australia, Europe, Canada, Japan, Singapore, UK and the USA
- Excellent proprietary trading platforms
Regulations and Money Protection
5.0
| Entity Name | License & Regulation | Client Money Protection | Deposit Compensation Scheme | Negative Balance Protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GAIN Global Markets Inc (KY) | Cayman Island CIMA license | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| GAIN Capital UK Limited | UK FCA license | ✔️ segregated client money |
✔️ up to £85,000 |
✔️ |
| GAIN Capital Australia Pty Ltd (Australia) | Australia ASIC license | ❌ | ✔️ | |
| StoneX Financial Pte. Ltd (SG) | Singapore MAS license | ❌ | ✔️ | |
| Gain Capital Japan Co., Ltd (JP) | Japan JFSA license | ❌ | ✔️ | |
| GAIN Capital Group LLC (USA) | USA NFA license | ❌ | ❌ | |
| GAIN Capital - FOREX.com Canada Ltd | Canada IIROC license | ✔️ up to C$ 1 million |
❌ | |
| StoneX Europe Ltd | Cyprus CySEC license | ✔️ €20,000 |
✔️ |
Entity/Regulation
GAIN Capital is a global provider of online trading services, headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, USA. As a global, publicly-traded company, GAIN Capital has a worldwide presence in the online trading industry with two brands; FOREX.com and City Index.
For the purpose of this review we will use the main entities with whom the traders can open an account; the companies in the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the USA. GAIN Capital Group LLC (USA) is the parent company of all GAIN Capital brands.
For the purpose of this review we will use the main entities with whom the traders can open an account; the companies in the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and the USA. GAIN Capital Group LLC (USA) is the parent company of all GAIN Capital brands.
- UK regulation: GAIN Capital UK Limited (operating as FOREX.com) is a company registered in England and Wales under number 01761813. Principal and registered office at Devon House, 58 St. Katharines Way, London , United Kingdom. GAIN Capital UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA with license number 113942.
- Australia regulation: GAIN Capital Australia Pty Ltd, (ABN 50 141 774 727), trading as City Index, and with registered address at 100 Harris street, Pyrmont, NSW 2009, is regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), under license number AFSL 345646. GAIN Capital Australia Pty Ltd is registered to carry out financial services business in Australia and is the CFD issuer and their products are traded off exchange.
- Singapore regulation: GAIN Capital Singapore Pte Ltd., with registered address at 168 Robinson Road, Capital Tower #20-01, Singapore 068912, is authorised and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to deal in Over-The-Counter Derivatives Contracts.
- Japan regulation: Gain Capital Japan Co., Ltd, with registered address at 4-4-10, Nihombashi-muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, is authorised and regulated by Japan's Financial Services Agency (JFSA) with JCN number 2010401047199 and holding a Type I Financial Instruments Business license number 291.
- USA regulation: GAIN Capital Group LLC, with registered address at 135 US Highway 202, 206, Suite 11, Bedminster, NJ 07921, United States is authorized and regulated by the USA National Futures Association (NFA) with a Forex Dealer Member license, NFA ID 0339826. The GAIN Capital Group LLC entity is also registered with the CFTC as a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer.
- Canada regulation: GAIN Capital - FOREX.com Canada Ltd, with head office at 135 US Highway 202 & 206, Suite 11, Bedminster, NJ 07921, United States, is a registered Securities Dealer company and is regulated by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) to provide investment services in Canada.
- Cyprus regulation: StoneX Europe Ltd is a Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) company, registered under company number HE409708. StoneX Europe Ltd (trading as FOREX.com), is authorized and regulated by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (CySEC) with license number 400/21, to offer financial services to EU residents.
Client Money Protection
- FOREX.com complies with the highest safety standards for client's funds. For this reason, FOREX.com client's funds are kept in top-tier international banks, such as the Bank of America fully segregated from the company's funds.
- FOREX.com also complies with the client money handling rules and employs strict policies and procedures regarding the maintenance and operation of these accounts. FOREX.com holds client's money separately to the company funds and does not use these funds for any operational expenses or purposes.
Deposit Compensation Scheme
- GAIN Capital UK Limited is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), an independent compensation fund of last resort for customers of authorised UK financial services firms. If GAIN Capital UK Limited is unable to pay claims against it in the event the firm has stopped trading or has declared to be in default, clients might be entitled to compensation (up to the value of £85,000) per claim.
- StoneX Europe Ltd is a member of the Investor Compensation Fund (ICF), an investor compensation fund regulated by the CySEC's directive DI87-07. If StoneX Europe Ltd is unable to meet its obligations, clients might be entitled to compensation (up to the value of €20,000) per claim, irrespective of the number of accounts held, currency and place of offering of the investment service (within Europe).
- GAIN Capital - FOREX.com Canada Ltd is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, an investor protection fund for clients of Canada based companies and its functions are regulated by the IIROC. If GAIN Capital - FOREX.com Canada Ltd is unable to meet its obligations, clients might be entitled to compensation (up to the value of C$1 million) per claim for all general accounts combined (such as cash accounts, margin accounts and TFSAs).
Negative Balance Protection
- For clients of GAIN Capital UK Limited and GAIN Capital Australia Pty Ltd there is a NBP mechanism in place (by default), protecting traders from losses bigger than their original investments, in compliance with ESMA and ASIC's new regulations. Careful though, as written on the broker's website: “Please note Professional Clients are not covered under negative balance protection and their account balance can go below zero”.
- For accounts opened via the other entities there isn't Negative Balance Protection, to prevent clients from keeping their accounts balance below zero. This means that in extreme market volatility and without an adequate stop loss in place, a losing trading position can cause a negative account balance.
Accounts, Instruments and Platforms
| Accounts | Instruments | Platforms | Social trading | Maximum Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✔️Spread-Only ✔️RAW ❌PAMM ✔️Islamic Accounts |
✔️Forex ✔️Indices ✔️Stocks ✔️Futures ❌ETFs ❌Bonds ✔️Commodities ✔️Cryptocurrencies |
✔️MT 4 ✔️MT 5 ❌cTrader ✔️FOREX.com |
❌ | 30:1 Europe 30:1 Australia 50:1 USA Variable Rest of World |
Account types and currencies
- FOREX.com proposes two trading accounts; Spread-Only and RAW, and the broker also offers swap-free accounts for traders of Islamic belief.
- FOREX.com currently does not allow for social trading, including copy trading.
- FOREX.com does not offer any MAM/PAMM accounts alternatives for money managers.
- FOREX.com maximum leverage is up to 30:1 for accounts opened within Europe and Australia, 50:1 in the USA and variable for accounts opened in other countries around the world.
- Currently, FOREX.com trading accounts are only available in EUR, GBP and USD.
Financial instruments
Trading can be done via the MetaTrader 4 and 5, TradingView and FOREX.com's own proprietary platform, available on web, desktop and mobile trading versions. The broker offers an excellent selection of more than 4,000 assets to trade, including FX pairs, indices, stocks, commodities, futures and cryptocurrencies - subject to client's jurisdiction.
- FX market - 80+ currency pairs (including Minor and Exotic crosses).
- Indices (not available to USA clients) - 15 world indices including GER 30, UK 100 and NIKKEI 225.
- Stocks (not available to USA clients) - 4,500+ stocks CFDs from worldwide top companies and banks, such as Adidas, Lufthansa, JP Morgan, Uber and Xiaomi.
- Commodities - 10 commodities CFDs available for trading including the most common energy, metals, base metals and soft commodities (Gold, Silver, UK Oil, US Oil and Nat Gas). Also included, 10 commodities futures, including metals, softs and energies.
- Cryptocurrencies (not available to USA clients) - 8 CFDs crosses for trading, including BTC/USD, LTC/USD and ETH/USD.
Pricing
3.2
| Pricing/ Account |
Spread-Only | RAW |
|---|---|---|
| Spread EUR/USD | from 1.2 pip | from 0.0 pip |
| Commissions (1 lot) | ❌ | $7 |
| Minimum Deposit | from 100 USD | from 100 USD |
Spreads
With FOREX.com traders have access to several instruments with low spreads on key FX pairs like the EUR/USD for example, on major indices such as the FTSE 100 and commodities. The spread for the EUR/USD pair, with the FOREX.com's Spread-Only account, starts at 1.2 pip, with an average of 1.4 pip, with fees and commissions built into the pricing.
With a RAW account trading costs will change slightly. The average spread for the EUR/USD is 0.0 pip, but of course, FOREX.com will add a commission for positions opened via this account. The commission for 1 lot of the most popular pair, the EUR/USD, is 7 USD (3.5 USD per side, per turn). This trading commission charged is average when compared with all the other top FX brokers.
Traders can further reduce trading costs by joining the Active Trader program. With the Active Trader program traders can earn up to $10 ($9 in the USA) in cash rebates per million FX traded in monthly volume and get interest on the average daily available margin up to 1.5% APY.
With a RAW account trading costs will change slightly. The average spread for the EUR/USD is 0.0 pip, but of course, FOREX.com will add a commission for positions opened via this account. The commission for 1 lot of the most popular pair, the EUR/USD, is 7 USD (3.5 USD per side, per turn). This trading commission charged is average when compared with all the other top FX brokers.
Traders can further reduce trading costs by joining the Active Trader program. With the Active Trader program traders can earn up to $10 ($9 in the USA) in cash rebates per million FX traded in monthly volume and get interest on the average daily available margin up to 1.5% APY.
Rollover Rates
FOREX.com swap rates, as of 14-03-2022, for the EUR/USD stand at -5.40 for holding overnight a 1 lot long contract and at -1.60 for holding overnight a 1 lot short contract. We consider these swap rates to be in line with the rollover rates offered by other top Forex brokers.
Deposits/Withdrawals and Other Fees
- Deposit fees - FOREX.com trading accounts can be opened in 3 different currencies and maintained via different funding methods; cards, bank wires and PayPal (subject to jurisdiction). Deposited funds are available, usually, within 10 minutes. FOREX.com does not charge any fees for deposits made by credit card, debit card, wire and bank transfers.
- Withdrawals fees - Same policy applies for withdrawals. FOREX.com does not add any fees to withdraw money via credit or debit cards or to trader's bank account using BACS or SWIFT payments (Europe only).
- Inactivity fee - FOREX.com does charge an inactivity fee of $15 (or equivalent in 15 base currency units) per month. This fee is a monthly charge applied to trader's account if there has been no trading activity or no open orders for a period of 12 months.
Popularity
4.0
| Forex Education |
Deposit Options | Deposit/Withdrawals Fees | Non expiring demo account | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webinars Forex articles Fundamental & Technical Analysis FX Courses |
Cards Bank Wire PayPal (subject to jurisdiction) |
❌ | ❌ | 24/5 Support |
FOREX.com was founded in 2001 and is a broker regulated in multiple countries. With more than 20 years of market presence supplying trading accounts and services to thousands of traders and client's around the world, FOREX.com is a renowned brand with a great market share. With strong regulations in place, offices in all the major financial centers globally, it is a great choice for traders and customers looking to trade in a safe environment.
Offering cutting-edge trading technology, FOREX.com has super-fast trading servers, maximising the execution speeds of the orders on all of it's trading platforms.
- Trading accounts - Regarding trading accounts, we consider the FOREX.com RAW account to be the best-value. This account is also a popular choice because of the reduced trading costs and considered the best option based on the lower spreads and an average commission of 7 USD per lot traded.
- Forex education - FOREX.com gets extra popularity points for their extensive range of forex education materials available on the website. Traders can find FX related articles, online courses, trading strategies, webinars, extensive market analysis, quizzes and so much more.
| Funding Methods | ACH, Bank Wire, Cards, PayPal (subject to jurisdiction) |
|---|---|
| Support Languages | English, Chinese, Spanish |
- Minimum deposit - Opening a trading account with FOREX.com can be done online and it's quite easy, taking around 10-15 minutes to complete all the forms with the required information. The minimum deposit requirement with FOREX.com is 100 USD (or 100 units in other account currencies).
- Customer support - FOREX.com's customer support service is available 24 hours, 5 days a week, in English, Chinese and Spanish language. FOREX.com's support is available via email, contact form or by local office phone call (subject to jurisdiction). Live chat directly from the broker's website is not available.
Broker Profile
FOREX.com is a subsidiary of GAIN Capital, a global provider of online trading services headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, USA. As a global, publicly-traded company, GAIN Capital has a worldwide presence in the FX market with its brand, FOREX.com. As per the 2019 monthly Retail Forex Obligation reports, published by the CFTC, based on client assets, FOREX.com claims to be the number 1 broker for Forex trading in the US.
GAIN Capital was found in 1999 with the clear mission of providing traders with low-cost access to the FX markets. Since then, GAIN Capital claims to have expanded their product offering and global reach, and currently provide over 140,000 retail and institutional investors with access to the OTC and exchange-traded markets. With a filed trading revenue of $177 million in 2019 and with 55% of the total revenue coming from loyal clients, trading with the company for more than 3 years, GAIN Capital has a sustainable, long term revenue stream.
According to CFTC data, GAIN Capital commands a 37% market share in the US and with a current stock price of $5.95 per share on the NYSE (NYSE: GCAP) definitely, GAIN Capital is a heavy-weight, structured player in the Forex retail trading market.
FOREX.com also offers free Forex education suitable for every trader, beginner or experienced. The complete range of available resources is designed to teach traders about the Forex trading concepts, how to manage risk, fundamental and technical analysis and explain how to trade the markets with beginner to advanced trading strategies. Trading of all assets offered can be done via several platforms, from web trading (trading directly on the browser), desktop trading and mobile trading available for iOS and Android. A special note to the Advanced Trading platform, built-in with professional analytics tools, integrated trading strategies, and advanced charting features.
All trading accounts with FOREX.com can qualify for an Active Trader Rewards program, which allows traders to earn monthly cash rebates and interest when they trade high volumes.
Overall, on our FOREX.com review, the broker scores 3.8 out of 5 as it is an excellent choice for traders looking for a reputable broker with very strong regulations in place and safety of funds. The exceptional offering of Forex educational materials are a must for new and seasoned traders. On the downside, the broker fails to capture the attention of new traders, perhaps because of the overall cost of trading as FOREX.com pricing model is slightly higher when compared with other top brokers.
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GAIN Capital was found in 1999 with the clear mission of providing traders with low-cost access to the FX markets. Since then, GAIN Capital claims to have expanded their product offering and global reach, and currently provide over 140,000 retail and institutional investors with access to the OTC and exchange-traded markets. With a filed trading revenue of $177 million in 2019 and with 55% of the total revenue coming from loyal clients, trading with the company for more than 3 years, GAIN Capital has a sustainable, long term revenue stream.
According to CFTC data, GAIN Capital commands a 37% market share in the US and with a current stock price of $5.95 per share on the NYSE (NYSE: GCAP) definitely, GAIN Capital is a heavy-weight, structured player in the Forex retail trading market.
FOREX.com also offers free Forex education suitable for every trader, beginner or experienced. The complete range of available resources is designed to teach traders about the Forex trading concepts, how to manage risk, fundamental and technical analysis and explain how to trade the markets with beginner to advanced trading strategies. Trading of all assets offered can be done via several platforms, from web trading (trading directly on the browser), desktop trading and mobile trading available for iOS and Android. A special note to the Advanced Trading platform, built-in with professional analytics tools, integrated trading strategies, and advanced charting features.
All trading accounts with FOREX.com can qualify for an Active Trader Rewards program, which allows traders to earn monthly cash rebates and interest when they trade high volumes.
Overall, on our FOREX.com review, the broker scores 3.8 out of 5 as it is an excellent choice for traders looking for a reputable broker with very strong regulations in place and safety of funds. The exceptional offering of Forex educational materials are a must for new and seasoned traders. On the downside, the broker fails to capture the attention of new traders, perhaps because of the overall cost of trading as FOREX.com pricing model is slightly higher when compared with other top brokers.
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